When I was a young Spotter, many Saturday nights were movie nights. No we did not run down to the video store or check our mail for movies. No we did not push the button for cable on demand. Nope, we did not go to the movie theatre either. We had our own movie theater. Well, at least for the 70’s it was a state of the art 8mm movie projector.
We would set up the screen at one end of the hallway, and the projector, my Dad would prepare at the other end. Mom was in the kitchen making popcorn and the smell of butter wafted around the house. Dad always seemed to get great pleasure out of being the operator of the projector. It was his baby and every time he set up, there seemed to be a happy glow shining in his face.
Finally, after loading the spool onto the machine and carefully threading it through all of the wheels and curves and hooking it into the other spool, we were prepared for the movies to begin. We would watch all kinds of movies. Dad made many home movies with his super duper 8mm video camera. That thing had a light on it brighter than the sun and sent everyone scurrying for cover, except of course for little Spotter who loved to be the center of attention for the camera.
We would also rent 8mm movies from the local library. They had a nice collection of old movies and shorts to watch. One of my favorites was ‘Bone Crunchers’, a movie of some of the NFL’s hardest hits. It was great because on request, Dad could run the play in reverse, play it back in slow motion, or freeze it just at the point of impact. Old silent movies like Stanley and Ollie were also favorites and perfect for the projector because the projector had no sound. Every movie was a silent movie.
There were some reels that I was so familiar with that I could actually go down by the screen and act along right with the movie itself. Another fun thing to do was to make shadow animals when we were changing movies. Oh, the fun we had. It really was where I got my love for movies. I used to watch my Dad spend hours clipping his reels together in the basement, much like I do now on the computer, but without the mess, LOL.
It was one of the many great memories I have from growing up. I hope when I have a family, I get to institute a movie night into our families activities.
2 comments:
There was something kind of endearing about making your own home movies back then. Maybe because it was harder to do? I don't know. I know when I was a kid I dreamed of having a projector of my own in which I could show Grease in my bedroom over and over again, I liked the movie so much. Little did I know that in just ten years, technology would improve so much that kids COULD watch their favorite movie over and over again.
But then, by then they'd already figured out Grease shouldn't be watched by kids under 13 and changed it from PG to PG-13!
I think the poorer quality somehow makes it endearing. In an age where everything is so perfected, it is nostalgic a bit to see the flaws and imperfections of the old technology.
The tech did change very quickly, especially from the late 70's to the late 80's there were HUGE jumps in movie technology. It went form old 8mm like this to the beginnings of DVD technology, and now HD and computer graphics which can do anything the mind can imagine.
Post a Comment